EU passport control, arriving in EU by cruise ship

[Mike B Landlubber]

I don’t see a forum for passport control issues or for general EU issues. My search attempts gave zillions of irrelevant results,  so am posting it here. If there’s a better place, please advise.

 

I had two odd incidents related to border control on a recent Europe trip, and I think there are things going on that I don’t understand. I’m wondering if someone can enlighten me.

 

My itinerary was that I took a transatlantic cruise from the US to Rome, flew from Rome to Copenhagen, took a Baltic cruise that ended in Stockholm, then flew from Stockholm back to US (I know, I have a tough life!). On both cruises, the cruise line viewed my passport when I boarded and took down the information, but gave the passport back to me and the cruise line never saw or asked for my passport again. I was never asked for passport when entering any country on shore excursion or debarking from either ship. The flight from Rome to Copenhagen and the flight home were both on SAS. I don’t think it matters, but the transatlantic cruise was on MSC and the Baltic cruise was Norwegian.

 

Weird incident 1–when I checked in for the flight from Rome to Copenhagen, the agent wanted to know where I would fly to next. This flight was separate from the flight home in my mind and the airline bookings, so I explained that I would be done after arrriving in Copenhagen. The ticket agent seemed unable to comprehend that an American who wasn’t a Copenhagen resident would fly there and do nothing else with the airline. My explanation that I would be getting on a ship in Copenhagen didn’t help. She began to get a bit agitated, and I was worried that I would be denied boarding. I finally mentioned that in a couple of weeks I would be flying home to US. Since that happened to be on SAS she could locate it and she settled down and I could proceed. I was puzzled by all this, I speculated that maybe there was an EU rule that would have forced the airline to fly me back to Italy if I arrived with no further travel, but that didn’t seem likely to me. I wonder if I would have been allowed to board if my return home reservation hadn’t been with SAS so she could confirm it.

 

Weird incident 2–When I went through border control to leave Sweden and fly home, the border control agent noted that my passport had no record that I had entered the EU. She had nothing to show that I had entered the EU. I explained what I had done and showed her my previous itinerary on an app in my phone (Thank goodness for TripIt!) and she was reasonable about it and stamped my passport to leave. I’m concerned that if she hadn’t been reasonable, I might have had real trouble getting home in a timely manner.

 

I didn’t skip out on anything with passport control while leaving, and there was never even an opportunity to talk to a person from border control when leaving either ship.

 

Does anyone have any insight on this to help me for the future? Is there anything I should have done but didn’t?

[CruiserBruce]

I was grilled by a Dutch Immigration officer at AMS two weeks ago about exactly how long I was going to be in the EU, and where I was going to fly home from( in this case, Paris next Tuesday).

 

There are limitations on how long you can be in the EU without a visa, so they might be trying to be clear exactly how long you have been, or will be, in the EU. There actually have been a couple of discussions related to your situation here recently. It may be something they are currently focusing on.

[euro cruiser]

I did a TA last fall from New York to Amsterdam, with stops along the way in both England and the EU.  We went through passport control on the ship for the UK and then again for the EU.  It was fast and easy, they had us report to the main stage (called down by floors), entering on the starboard side and exiting on the port.  Local agents came on the ship, we showed them our passport and our key card, and that was it.  No one scanned or stamped the passports.

[steamboats]

There should have been a Schengen (EU) passport control on your TA cruise either onboard or at the first EU port (or the last which would have been Civitavecchia). Then you should have received your Schengen stamp (visa waiver program).

 

The rest of your trip was all within Schengen countries. This can be compared to a domestic flight within the US. There is no passport control within the Schengen countries. Even your Baltic cruise should have been totally Schengen. The airline might want to see your passport but they usually don´t check your visa status. They only check your identity. Some countries like Spain also check your ID when boarding the plane.

 

So I totally understand the border control agent in Sweden when she didn´t see any Schengen stamp in your passport. So legally you were traveling without a visa or a visa waiver program and you were an illegal alien.

 

I was only on one Eastbound TA from Port Everglades to Barcelona and this cruise had only one stop in Malaga (Spain). Nevertheless the passport control was in Barcelona. As I´m EU citizen I could go to the EU line and only had a passport check. The non EU passengers had to use the other line where their passport got stamped with the Schengen "visa". Legally this should have taken place in Malaga as first port in the EU but it was moved to our last port Barcelona.

 

steamboats

[John Bull]

3 hours ago, steamboats said:

There should have been a Schengen (EU) passport control on your TA cruise either onboard or at the first EU port (or the last which would have been Civitavecchia). Then you should have received your Schengen stamp (visa waiver program).

 

So I totally understand the border control agent in Sweden when she didn´t see any Schengen stamp in your passport. So legally you were traveling without a visa or a visa waiver program and you were an illegal alien.

 

steamboats

 

I've heard the same thing about the USA .........

a foreign national flew into the US and departed a few days later by cruise ship -  immigration didn't do their job at the port.

A year or two later they went back to the States. At immigration they were quizzed about  why they'd remained in the USA for so long. But the fact that they were entering a country which according to the paperwork they were already in will have alerted everyone that this was probably not an over-stayer. .

Troublesome, but mistakes happen.

 

JB 🙂

[CruiserBruce]

Talked to DW about this after I posted earlier. Her comment was " you would think with the high tech digital capabilities today, and part of our passports,  a stamp wouldn't be required any more. They probably have a record of every time your passport has been scanned,  and it could be scanned on the ship".

[steamboats]

EU is working on ETIAS similar to ESTA. UK has their own system being buildt up. But both won´t be available until the end of 2024. Anyway this is only a pre registration and doesn´t say anything about the date of entry.

 

So they still have to check the passport (scan it).

 

steamboats

 

[cruisemom42]

2 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Talked to DW about this after I posted earlier. Her comment was " you would think with the high tech digital capabilities today, and part of our passports,  a stamp wouldn't be required any more. They probably have a record of every time your passport has been scanned,  and it could be scanned on the ship".

 

I actually think your DW must be right, at least for all passports that have the embedded chip. Whenever I fly now, the first step is scanning my passport, which must pull up a record of my travels. 

 

I know I have entered both the UK and the EU (in Italy) via express lanes for entry (only open to US citizens in a few places -- so far). You scan your passport and then doors automatically open to admit you. No one stamps your passport. Hence my feeling that it must all be recorded electronically.

 

On the other hand, what may have been happening in the OP's case was perhaps just a linguistic misunderstanding. When the person asked about their final destination, s/he was probably just trying to determine how long the OP's stay was going to be, not that she was puzzled that they were not moving on immediately.  I often get asked this question when traveling in the EU. They want to know that you have a finite date for departure for various reasons (regulations, possible need for a visa, etc.)

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by cruisemom42

[CruiserBruce]

13 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I actually think your DW must be right, 

 

Always!!!🤣

[cruisemom42]

8 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Always!!!🤣

 

Smart man! 😉